Furious Roberto Mancini rages at Manchester City’s ref injustice

Roberto Mancini was an angry man today after his City side fell victim to more refereeing inconsistency to slump out of the Carling Cup.

Joe Hart acknowledges the travelling fans at the end of the Carling Cup semi-final clash at Anfield

Roberto Mancini was an angry man today after his City side fell victim to more refereeing inconsistency to slump out of the Carling Cup.

The Blues were denied a clear penalty when Edin Dzeko was fouled by Charlie Adam, but then saw Liverpool given a dubious spot-kick when a shot cannoned off Micah Richards' foot and on to his hand.

And with the semi-final second leg ending 2-2, that sent Liverpool to Wembley for next month’s final after they won 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the first leg.

Mancini refrained from speaking to ref Phil Dowd afterwards but said: “It was a penalty on Dzeko – it was Adam, if you watch the game.

“With their penalty, it hit his leg before his arm. Maybe he could cut his arm off!”

But the manager said he was not losing faith in referees: “Phil Dowd is one of the best referees in England. It is my opinion that I didn’t think it was a penalty. You know it was not a penalty.”

Coming hot on the heels of four-game bans for Mario Balotelli and Vincent Kompany – both of which the City manager bitterly disputes – last night’s injustices fuelled a fire raging within Mancini at the moment.

The Italian was kept away from his normal press briefing on Tuesday for fear he would say the wrong thing and land himself with an FA charge.

But he let his fury spill out over the decision to give Balotelli a retrospective four-match ban, and the fact he felt match official Dowd got two big penalty decisions wrong.

Mancini even suggested that maybe last night’s result, like ref Howard Webb’s verdict on Balotelli, should be changed with hindsight.

“I hope tomorrow they can change the result for tonight,” blasted the City boss. “With Mario they decided after the game. The referee was there, he saw everything.

“If it was correct, send him off during the game, not after. Maybe tomorrow they will change this result.”

Webb had told the FA that he had not seen Balotelli’s apparent stamp on the head of Scott Parker, which led the disciplinary department to land the young striker with a violent conduct charge.

City decided not to appeal the ban because they felt it was futile, and ran the risk of incurring a further one-match penalty.

But Mancini made his thoughts plain, and suggested pitchside replays might be the way forward: “You watched the game. Everyone watched the game. The referee was there, 10 metres from the tackle.

“If he thought it was a red card at the moment, he could have sent Mario off. Not after the game because he watched the video. That is easy.

“I can be a referee in the next game. Or you put a replay on the pitch like many people in the world say. Every referee, every player, every manager can make a mistake. There, in that moment, you can change it.

“The referee was there. He can’t say he didn’t see it. He saw everything.

“Now it is finished. Mario can do nothing. We lost Vinny for four games for nothing. We are without Mario for four games.”

Liverpool deserved the win, with Joe Hart in inspired form to hold them off for long spells, while Mancini unusually began the match with a 3-5-1 formation which he later changed.

Youngster Stefan Savic, playing in place of the suspended Kompany, had a nightmare and was taken off at half time.

But Mancini refused to blame his tactics or his decision to play the young Montenegro star.

“We don’t have any other defenders,” he said. “We have three defenders. In the first-half we only conceded a penalty and it wasn't a penalty.”

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